Other U.S. skaters in the event include 2010 Olympic silver medalists and world champions in ice dancing Meryl Davis and Charlie White, reigning U.S. men’s champion Max Aaron and nationals runner-up Gracie Gold.

Lysacek, 28, appeared close to returning each of the last three seasons. He did not skate in 2011-12 due to disagreements with U.S. Figure Skating.

He was set to compete at Skate America in 2012, only to withdraw with a groin injury. He had sports hernia surgery in November, which caused him to miss the U.S. Championships in January.

In June, it was announced Lysacek would compete at Skate America in Detroit in October, which, up until Tuesday, appeared that it would be his first competition since Vancouver.

In 2010, Lysacek became the first U.S. man to win Olympic figure skating gold since Brian Boitano in 1988.

He’s aiming to become the first U.S. figure skater since Todd Eldredge (1992, 1998, 2002) to compete in three Olympics. The two-man U.S. team will be chosen after the national championships in Boston in January.

Should Lysacek make it to Sochi, his primary competition will be Canadian three-time reigning world champion Patrick Chan, who took silver to Lysacek’s gold at the 2009 worlds.

There’s also Russian Evgeni Plushenko, 30, trying to make his fourth Olympic team. Plushenko took silver to Lysacek at the 2010 Olympics.